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Friday, September 11, 2009

Dayton Aero News

Gov. Strickland Designates Dayton As Aerospace Hub.The Dayton (OH) Daily News (9/9, Nolan) reports, "Ohio established an economic development precedent Tuesday, Sept. 8, by designating the Dayton region as a hub of aerospace innovation and opportunity." The designation by Gov. Ted Strickland "makes it the first such technology hub in the state, although there could be as many as three other such specialty designations statewide by year's end, he said during a Dayton visit." However, the governor "declined to be specific about how much money the state could make available to Dayton under the aerospace hub designation," even though he has "directed the Ohio Department of Development to form an advisory group of private and public executives to guide Ohio's efforts to support aerospace and business aviation development."

Also reported by DDN is the related story of a trade agreement between Dayton and Israel. "The agreement commits both sides to three years — and likely more —of cooperative efforts to develop new aerospace technology for military and commercial markets. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, an Air Force hub of weapons and unmanned aircraft research and procurement, is a potential prime customer." The focus of the effort seems to be on sensors for surveillance and reconnaissance.

And in sensor news:

Selex Galileo Test Flies Falco UAV With PicoSAR Radar.Flightglobal (9/8, Hoyle) reported, "Selex Galileo has test flown a Falco unmanned air vehicle in the UK with its PicoSAR miniature synthetic aperture radar payload, and says the combination could play a valuable role in detecting improvised explosive devices." During the test flight, "the Falco tactical air vehicle was equipped with the active electronically scanned array PicoSAR and an electro-optical/infrared sensor for the recent trials activity." According to Galileo, "The high-resolution SAR, coupled with change detection, make the radar particularly useful for counter-IED missions, detecting disturbances in ground surface."